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January 10, 2013

London subway system turns 150 years old

The world's first subway also spurred an early form of transit-oriented development.

By ROBERT BARRAssociated Press

LONDON — Busy, congested, stressful. This is how the world's first subway system was depicted by London newspapers in 1863. It's a situation that would be familiar to nail-biting passengers of the present as the Tube turned 150 years old Wednesday.

“The constant cry, as the trains arrived, of ‘no room,' appeared to have a very depressing effect upon those assembled,” The Guardian newspaper reported on the public opening of London's Metropolitan Line on Jan. 10, 1863. The first stretch of rail had opened the day before.